- Created by
- Amos, Emma, American, 1937 - 2020
- Date
- 2002
- Medium
- ink on paper with cloth
- Dimensions
- H x W: 26 × 20 3/4 in. (66 × 52.7 cm)
- Caption
- Emma Amos was a postmodernist figurative painter and printmaker. She was a feminist artist whose work often challenged racism and sexism in modern society. Inspired by the 1934 Cole Porter tune, “Miss Otis Regrets,” this print is based on a similar acrylic on linen painting by Amos also titled Miss Otis Regrets (2002). The song tells the tale of Miss Otis, who awoke to find herself abandoned by her lover. After locating him, she shoots him and is arrested before an angry mob drags her from jail and lynches her. The song opens and closes with the lyrics “Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch today.”
- Description
- A color lithograph with a collaged fabric border, depicting a woman, “Miss Otis.” She appears in the center of the print, looking over her proper left shoulder towards the viewer. She wears a red, floral-print top with thin straps and lace trim, earrings, and a ring on her right hand, which grips her left arm. Her lips and nails are painted bright red. She is surrounded by a bright yellow aura, set within a larger blue field with feminine and colorful lips, tongues, and eyes scattered around. Directly above the woman is a row of black bars. A gun appears to the left and one of the tongues is pierced by a sword at lower right. At the bottom of the image is “MISS OTIS.” The artist has put the edition [3/25] and signed and dated the print [Emma Amos 2002] directly below the blue field, within a slim margin of white at the corners and blocks of orange at the center of each of the four sides. The outer margins have been covered with strips of cloth in two different striped patterns in shades of yellow, orange, red, and blue.
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Type
- lithographs
- portraits
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Juanita and Melvin Hardy
- Object number
- 2020.58.4
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Emma Amos/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS)
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




